A Light and High Beauty
by Flame Tigress
Summary: "...Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart..." -- In the midst of the darkness of Mordor, Sam's hope is renewed when he sees two things that he believes the Shadow can never corrupt.


Author's Note: This is an overly sweet, sappy, cloying, sentimental, etc. poem that I wrote from Sam's POV in the part of The Return of the King when he "saw a white star twinkle for a while" and "the beauty of it smote his heart" (p. 211 in my copy. The Del Rey publication with the movie picture on the cover). My apologies for not writing in Sam's speaking style. He probably wouldn't write poetry with apostrophes after the n's in all his present participles anyway, and he doesn't exactly have a yokel's vocabulary, either.  
  
Here's some critical acclaim for a previous posting of this fic from Luinramwen: "That was beautiful. !!"  
  
And from Cheshire: "That was so beautiful. . . I loved how you kept Sam in character, and yet you also managed to elaborate some very complex beauty. Well done!"  
  
I thank both of these reviewers profusely for their sentiments.  
  
Oh yes, a disclaimer - not mine; all Tolkien's, except the mental images, which are, as always, courtesy of Elijah Wood.  
  
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I saw a star tonight   
while you were sleeping.   
Perhaps I should have shown you;   
perhaps it might have given you hope,   
but I could not bring myself to wake you,   
not when you at last looked at rest,   
if not at peace.   
I had not seen the stars in so long,   
veiled by Mordor's cloud and ashes,   
that I wondered if it was but a dream,   
that single, unwavering point of light,   
amid the darkness purest white   
and calm and clear.   
Even drowned in darkness as we are,   
lost and fragile as hope may seem,   
it struck me, pierced my heart like cold iron   
that there is still something   
pure and fair and divine   
and ever-enduring,   
greater and more ancient even than this darkness,   
that cannot be reached by the growing Shadow,   
above being touched by despair -   
a light and high beauty   
for ever beyond its reach.   
  
And now I sit and watch you sleep,   
still as clear water untouched by wind.   
Only when you sleep   
is your brow unclouded by care,   
and fear, and weariness;   
when you sleep, I see you again,   
whom I have not seen in so long,   
veiled by sorrow's cloud and ashes.   
And as I watch over you in sleep,   
in the darkness your face pale  
and calm and clear   
like that white shaft from heaven,   
it strikes me, pierces my heart like cold iron   
that there is still something   
pure and fair and divine   
that shines in you, an Elven grace;   
for when sleep frees you   
from your grief - even hurt   
and weary as you are - you appear   
above being touched by despair,   
and in your untroubled face   
and sleep-covered eyes live yet   
a high light and beauty   
for ever beyond its reach.  
  
And so I do not fear,   
though nightmare troubles   
now knit your brows;   
I no longer fear for myself,   
for I see now that in the end,   
even this Shadow is a small   
and passing thing.   
And as I brush the hair from   
your closed eyes, and gently   
kiss your restless brow   
to soothe your sleep,   
I do not fear even for you   
whom I place above all   
in heart and mind;   
even as the darkness closes   
around and within you, I know   
that we are not forsaken,   
that it cannot conquer all -   
there is a light and high beauty   
for ever beyond its reach.  
  
Author's Note, Part II: Poor, deluded Sam. The "light and high beauty" in Frodo, alas, did succumb to the darkness.  
  
And for people who have been ranting at me about that, Tolkien himself said that Frodo failed. I know that Frodo's light wasn't extinguished permanently, but he put on the Ring, and Sam must have discovered that although strong, brave, sacrificing, and noble, Frodo was not divine.  
  
Thanks ever so much to TALEWG for telling me the story was fine. I needed to get a grip.  
  
P.S. Listen to your inner child...it compels you to read and review the rest of my stuff...  
  
Citations.  
I borrowed some words and phrases from Tolkien (makes you wonder why we write fanfiction anyway; the original always words things the best), and I'm too lazy to try to find and cite all the hidden single-word references, so I'll just give you the inspiring passage and let you figure it out:  
  
"...Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end, the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach...Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him" (III, p. 211). [Note from me: Heehee! Guess where PJ and co. got the "Shadow is just a passing thing" line in Sam's speech in the movie "The Two Towers"? I feel very clever for finding that...]  
  
Other references in there: "'They cannot conquer for ever!'" (II, 351); "Here are beauties which pierce likes swords and burn like cold iron" (- C. S. Lewis on The Lord of the Rings) 


End file.
